The knowledge and even the experience of many readers of Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research will be centered on the natural history of Greenland, and especially on various aspects of the Greenland ice sheet both past and present. This book by Martin Breum reminds us, or at least me, that Greenland is a political entity—part of the Kingdom of Denmark, which includes Greenland, the Faeroe Islands, and Denmark. The main theme of the book is to document the twists and turns in the political relationship between Denmark and Greenland, and in particular the rise in nationalism in many Greenlanders, which resulted in a significant level of self-rule in 2009. The book’s fourteen chapters are a chronological narrative, from 2007 to 2017, of the complex relationships between the Danish and Greenlandic governments, which are complicated in no small way by changes in climate and the world’s needs for oil, gas, and critical minerals. There is also, of course, the strategic location that Greenland played and still plays in terms of Russia/U.S. missile defense and intelligence gathering. In fact, the United States offered to buy Greenland in 1950 for one million dollars. In my review copy I was disappointed to find that a number of maps, which would have been useful, are on pages labeled “to come.”
I confess that I found the book extremely interesting and informative, but as someone with a long and general interest in the Arctic, I was also dismayed at my ignorance of many of the events and issues raised in this book. For example, I had no memory that Greenland and Denmark claimed a large segment of the floor of the Arctic Ocean, including the North Pole, and despite the historical importance of the Brexit vote, Greenland was in fact the first country to leave the European Union! There seems little doubt that many of the issues raised in the past decade between Denmark and Greenland will continue to surface, chief being the argument as to whether and how Greenland will obtain self-rule. Arguments for self-rule appear to focus on the potential mineral wealth, including oil and gas. As the duration of the ice-free season increases, the prospects for oil exploration on the west and northeast Greenlandic shelves will be looked on more favorably, but it is true to say that initial drilling off the west coast has been disappointing. Part of the conflict between the two political units of the Kingdom is financial. Denmark has the goal of making sure that all of its citizens have roughly the same standard of living; in practical terms, this means that Denmark supported the Greenland government to the tune of $486 million per year, and the annual contribution from the European Union is €217.8 million per year (~$262 million per year). The existing industries in Greenland—fisheries, mining, tourism—are presently unable to support the needs of the government and the Greenlandic people, and the potential future exploitation of oil, gas, and mineral resources will and are resulting in a debate between the need to protect the environment versus the economic aspirations of the country.
For many readers of AAAR, their interest in Greenland is associated with current and past changes in the environment—this book is an important reminder that Greenland is inhabited and is a political entity whose goals and ambitions are often unknown, or are even not considered, by the foreign scientists whose focus is on describing and understanding past and present environments. For all such, I strongly recommend this book.